- Sumeritans were the original keepers of records
- Cylinder seals lead the way for trademarking
- Cuneiform influenced Hieroglyphics
- Papyrus was the first most flexible writing surface, could be rolled into a scroll, worked on both sides, etc.
- Egyptian innovations helped trigger the development of the Phoenician and Greco-Roman alphabet
- Logograms are graphic characters that represent entire words
- World's first known printed book on paper is a Chinese manuscript about the Buddha's revelations.
- Chinese invented printing
- First moveable type was made in 1045 A.D. by Pi Sheng, a Chinese Alchemist.
- Phoenicians created a system of 22 phonetic signs, replacing complexity of cuneiform and Egyptian scripts.
- The "mono line script"
- unicials
- Monumental, square, and rustic capitals
- Illuminated manuscripts were a major reason for what books are like today.
- First use of space between words by Celtic Calligarphers
- First printed type used by Gutenberg was Textura.
- Period of Incunabula - all books made with moveable type.
- Garamond - first type designer to work independent of prints by establishing a type foundry in 1530
- Bodoni constructed an alphabet of interchangable parts.
- 20th century fat face letters, bold letters, slab serif, sans serif
It was very interesting to see the creation and evolution of type throughout history. It seems like every time a new culture learned about writing, something new greatly impacted writing and alphabets for the rest of time, setting it on a new path. The processes of creating letterforms in themselves was very intriguing. The geometry and the sacredness of the art is amazing. I feel like with the creation of computers and mass production typography may have lost it's sanctity over the years. Hopefully it will remain such an art form for some practitioners.
No comments:
Post a Comment